While some of us may have enjoyed the seclusion of lockdown and not having to talk to people we don’t like, it isn’t a sustainable way of living. So now the Covid-19 vaccines appear to be working well and serious illness is largely being avoided, it is time to think about life with Coronavirus. It is understandable to be anxious, but being stuck in lockdown mode will be bad for your mental and physical health. What is certain is that life will never be as it was before 2020, and it will be tough to re-adjust to living life beyond the confines of our homes. So here are five simple tips to help you boss life after lockdown!

1. Put yourself out there

We have been isolated, to varying degrees, for long enough now. We have had fifteen months to dwell on ourselves! That time is up now and thinking what we can do with ourselves – which isn’t necessarily egotistical – can have a negative effect on our mindset. Instead, you should try to build yourself up to being in situations around people again so you can get back to your old self.

2. Appreciate the little things in life

The pandemic has taught us to appreciate the biggest of things that form our everyday lives, like the NHS and our education system. But successive lockdowns have taught us all to appreciate the little things in life too, such as being close to our loved ones and the green spaces in our local area. It is excellent that our new normal will be underway soon, but we can’t forget all the things we have learned about ourselves and each other in lockdown.

3. Maintain your work/life balance

In lockdown, many of us went to school in our bedrooms and worked from home. Some people like it, while others prefer the idea of waking up and having a routine to their day away from the house. But one thing that did arise from working from home during lockdown was that we had a better work/life balance, with much more time on our hands due to the absence of the daily commute or the school run. Obviously, this wasn’t the reality for all of us in the pandemic but the same still applies; you must strive to maintain a work/life balance. The only bad thing to come from working online is probably that snow days are a thing of the past!

4. Look after yourself and others

Washing your hands while singing Happy Birthday twice over is a routine that has become enshrined in our memories, but we shouldn’t toss away this catchy mantra with a strong message behind it. Lots of us will take our personal hygiene more seriously now, thanks to the enhanced education on how viruses and illness spreads thanks to the pandemic. Unfortunately, Mark Drakeford can’t be on the television every day to remind us to wash our hands, keep ourselves clean and to respect others’ personal space. 

5. We don’t need loads of stuff to survive

Well…we do, but that’s only in relative terms. We learned to survive without many of the luxuries that we didn’t think we could do without, including going to the hairdressers and heading to the shops just for a pint of milk. Our key workers proved that the bare necessities to life; food, water and good health are all we need to truly survive. Granted, there are some luxuries many of us couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to live without now, such as a decent internet connection. Some of us were even forced to survive without toilet roll until we could pick up some My Little Pony tissues. The bottom line is nobody needs a face full of makeup to get by, and we are all incredibly resilient creatures by our very nature, and many of us surprised ourselves with the methods we used to survive.

By Tomos aged 18